Life, 1914-06-04 · page 42 of 52
Life — June 4, 1914 — page 42: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page features a satirical article lamenting changes in women's fashion and behavior circa 1920s. The text argues that modern women's liberated dress—shorter skirts, looser clothing—represents the "passing of Romance" and "the Thrill." The author contends that as women entered business (typists, lawyers, journalists), they abandoned corseted formality for practical tailored suits. The article frames this as cultural decay: transparent, revealing modern fashions lack the "mystery" and allure of Victorian-era modest dress. The piece cynically suggests contemporary life—plays, novels, moving pictures—offers "little left to the imagination." This reflects period anxieties about women's liberation and changing gender norms. The satire cuts both ways: while Life mocks conservative nostalgia for restrictive Victorian fashion, it also critiques modern society's perceived loss of decorum and romance. The article exemplifies early 20th-century hand-wringing over rapid social change and women's independence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“THAT TRUE LOVE ALL RIGHT, ROGERIO, BUT LEAD ME TO THE CH 0X." From Chicago To Gardiner Gateway AND RETURN ‘The Original, Natural and Northern Entrance to YELLOWSTONE PARK via NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY Personally Conducted Excursions Weekly Trains direct to Gardiner SEASON JUNE 15 - SEPT. 15 Regular Park Tour, Five and one-half days Send six cents for attractive literature giving hotel rates, ete. ma-Pacifie International “Gnd Panomo-California Expositions San Francisco and San Diego 1913 A.M, CLELAND iger Agent jinn, | The Aristocrat of Cigarettes RAMESES Largest Selling 20c Cigarette The Passing of the Thrill 'HERE has always been a certain symbolism suggested in woman's dress at different epochs in history, this for the reason that the artists who put on paper the innovation, born in the brains of the great Paris dress- makers, are living in that epoch and are, almost unconsciously, expressing the drift of things about them. * Military effects creep into styles, tight and loose vestures come and go, colors bloom and fade, and the clair- audient eye can read a whole volume of history in the frills and fluffs that make a modern luncheon-room gay at this season of the year, The advance of women into busi- ness life—that bold forward march of typists, journalists, lawyers and doc- tors—was bannered by the tailor-made suit, that trig, severe uniform that came with the late eighties. And the feminine uprising of the present was marked by a daring fashion dating from the French Revolution, the petti- coat slashed to the knee, now happily gone out. Ugly as it was, it was none the less wonderfully expressive of the breaking away from convention, the unshackling of the limbs, the free movement that none but the Winged Victory was ever able to achieve gracefully in skirts. It rent the veil of bewitching mystery that has always hung about the femi- nine ankle—that mysterious spell that makes the club window such a popular lounging place on rainy afternoons. Those learned professors who study all such things with charts and magni- fying glasses, see in these changes the going out of the emotional life—the dying off of Romance, the passing of the Thrill. They cite the fact that women in the transparencies that pass for clothing this season are not half so alluring as the primly bodiced maidens of the sixties. Everything—ideas, morals, dinne talk as well as dres: “on the loose”, as Pinero says. There is little left to the imagina- tion. Plays, novels, moving pictures The ridiculous effort to keep your tires up to manufacturer's requirements by inferior tire pumps is little more absurdly futile than to try to get a power tire pamp to do good work on your car without scientifically designed attachments. Ensine Driven Air Pump ONE, TWO, FOUR, SIX CYLINDER MODELS | With Specially Designed Attachments Ready To Go Ox | Your Car, Fully Guaranteed, Your car equipment is not complete without an Engine Drives Tue Pomp. You can. net go wrong in choosing the pump that is standard or special equipment for these cars: PACKARD FRANKUN LEXINGTON PEERLESS WINTON STEVENS. HAVERS STEARNS DURYEA IMPERIAL, ted mode with special stachmeats th wed and made witl ments that garages cat dealers now install on oe cx HUDSON PIERCE, OVERLAND MAXWELL 6 OWNERS — Sead w th sare and model of rour car. We will eve 18 prices and name of dealer, DEALERS— Attachments and models for your ear. Write wafor discos. Your Kellogg Pump Will Save Your Tire Expense KELLOGG MANUFACTURING CO. 102 Circle St. New York San Francisco pant. Chen chase Localities We aan male Ris Ser Us tr Al Cort and Mir Boa comicbooks.com